"Sickos" is the new banned word! Oh and bus drivers aren’t entitled to opinions.

If you caught two 14-year-old girls making out on a bus, would you consider them sickos? I would. I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a bus driver in “highly advanced super progressive” Portland, Oregon. Otherwise I’d be thrown under a bus (no pun intended) by the media, the bus drivers union, the gay and lesbian community, and the city!

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A transit agency chief apologized Wednesday to two lesbian teenagers who were kicked off a bus when a passenger complained about them kissing. “Removing the girls from the bus was not consistent with our policy,” said TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen. “I want to reiterate that we welcome all riders on our system.”

The 64-year-old bus driver will face disciplinary action for removing the two 14-year-old girls during a June 8 incident aboard his bus, TriMet officials said. But no details about the discipline were released. The driver, an 11-year veteran, violated several agency procedures and policies, officials said.

The girls said the driver called them “sickos” after a female passenger complained about their kiss. He then stopped the bus along the street and forced them off.

The actions by the girls did not warrant being removed from the bus, and TriMet policy requires operators to call for assistance before removing any minors, TriMet said in a statement released Wednesday. “TriMet sincerely apologizes to the girls and their families for this incident,” Hansen said in the statement.

The mother of one of the girls, Ronnda Zezula, welcomed the apology.

“The only thing I had a problem with is they didn’t really address why the driver broke those policies,” Zezula said. “He knew it was wrong. He’s been a driver for 11 years.” She also said she wished the agency had made the extent of the disciplinary action public to show it will not “be just a slap on the wrist.” Zezula said the family has been encouraged to consider a lawsuit, but they will “have to mull it over.”

Melissa Chernaik, spokeswoman for Basic Rights Oregon, said the gay rights group has been in contact with Zezula and “we share the same set of concerns.”

But Chernaik said the chief concern was that the girls were put in an unsafe situation. “The fact that they were possibly singled out because they were two girls is obviously problematic,” Chernaik said. “But the big issue is that teenagers were put at risk and they should not be. Keeping kids safe is really the problem, and it sounds like TriMet is dealing with that, as they should be.”

“Removing the girls from the bus was not consistent with our policy” - Why on earth not? Shouldn’t any form of ridiculous PDA (not to mention something as controversial as homosexual PDA) be banned from public transportation? If I’m going to pay to ride a bus I better not have to sit there with my kids and witness that sort of open sexual distortion shoved in my face. You heard me right, I think that homosexuality is sexual distortion. In my opinion so is sleeping around. So is having sex with someone other than your wife when you’re married. Am I not entitled to that opinion? Next time maybe these girls should just get a room!

“I want to reiterate that we welcome all riders on our system” - Who said all riders weren’t welcome? Anyone is welcome, and anyone can misbehave! If you misbehave you’re off the bus. Sounds simple enough to me! Why are they identifying people by behavior now? Isn’t this exactly what the gay and lesbian community wants to fight against: being labeled by their behavior?!?

So now the family is considering a lawsuit! What a great American tradition that is! What’s the big deal? The driver called them sickos. People get called mean names every day, if you can’t deal with that, good luck living the rest of your life! This is just another case of political correctness run amok. Combine that with an unwillingness to follow certain social guidelines and rules and we have this screwed up case in Portland!

Here’s a quick summary of how I feel about this case:

1 - Public Display of Affection (PDA) is not something you should be doing on a mode of public transportation. That was a mistake. If you want to behave like that, do it in private and not around innocent kids. This goes for homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals, and weird green martian alien-sexuals!

2 - The bus driver should have every right to kick them off the bus for what he deems disorderly conduct, end of story.

3 - The bus driver said they were sickos. So what? He could have said the same thing to a heterosexual couple making out on the bus. Maybe he does think homosexuality is a form of sexual perversion (IE; sick.)

Isn’t he entitled to his opinion about a behavior? Some people find drinking wrong, but you don’t go calling them bigots for criticizing drunks! Some people might find those who don’t recycle to be environmentally unfriendly and hate their behavior… Should we call in the PC police? No! People should be entitled to their opinions when it comes to the behavior of other people. I’m sick and tired of my rights being trampled on for having an opinion. This bus driver is a sacrificial lamb to further the cause of intolerance by the tolerance crowd.